CENTRE COUNTY - Police arrested a woman for public drunkenness on Tuesday after she was found rolling through puddles of water, topless, and knocking on doors.
The woman later admitted to police that she had been smoking synthetic drugs, also known as bath salts for three days in a row.
She was later taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center for treatment.
Over the past few years, bath salts have grown in popularity as a cheap way to get high, but they can often cause erratic and violent behavior.
"Blood pressure can go extremely low, people can become psychotic," said Altoona Doctor Mark Tilyou. "There's this break with reality, so what's real isn't real to them."
Bath salts were made illegal in Pennsylvania in 2011, but even after the ban, police across Central Pennsylvania have been confronted with arresting users posing a danger to themselves and others.
"It's an increasing problem," said assistant Cambria County District Attorney Wayne Langerholtc. "Our county as well as our law enforcement office is trying to stay one step ahead of these individuals."
Since the ban, police have had to deal with sellers and users of bath salts tweaking ingredients and chemicals to skirt the law.
"They'll use different chemical compounds or different chemical mixtures to say that it's not illegal," said Langerholtc. "But there are ways that we have actively prosecuted that."
Bath salts can also still be purchased over the internet under different names at a relatively inexpensive price, that adds to the legal and medical burden.
Bath salts can also be deadly.
"The bad thing is they get away with it once or twice," said Doctor Tilyou. "They think a little bit is good and a little more is better, and before you know it they're taking toxic amounts."
Assistant D.A. Langerholtc said that since the ban in 2011, bath salts have been difficult to find in any stores, but now they're making there way into Pennsylvania from other states. That, combined with availability of bath-salts through internet purchases, has made it a difficult problem to tackle.
The woman later admitted to police that she had been smoking synthetic drugs, also known as bath salts for three days in a row.
She was later taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center for treatment.
Over the past few years, bath salts have grown in popularity as a cheap way to get high, but they can often cause erratic and violent behavior.
"Blood pressure can go extremely low, people can become psychotic," said Altoona Doctor Mark Tilyou. "There's this break with reality, so what's real isn't real to them."
Bath salts were made illegal in Pennsylvania in 2011, but even after the ban, police across Central Pennsylvania have been confronted with arresting users posing a danger to themselves and others.
"It's an increasing problem," said assistant Cambria County District Attorney Wayne Langerholtc. "Our county as well as our law enforcement office is trying to stay one step ahead of these individuals."
Since the ban, police have had to deal with sellers and users of bath salts tweaking ingredients and chemicals to skirt the law.
"They'll use different chemical compounds or different chemical mixtures to say that it's not illegal," said Langerholtc. "But there are ways that we have actively prosecuted that."
Bath salts can also still be purchased over the internet under different names at a relatively inexpensive price, that adds to the legal and medical burden.
Bath salts can also be deadly.
"The bad thing is they get away with it once or twice," said Doctor Tilyou. "They think a little bit is good and a little more is better, and before you know it they're taking toxic amounts."
Assistant D.A. Langerholtc said that since the ban in 2011, bath salts have been difficult to find in any stores, but now they're making there way into Pennsylvania from other states. That, combined with availability of bath-salts through internet purchases, has made it a difficult problem to tackle.
